Saturday, March 28, 2009

I was back to emcee the Miss Greater Waterbury/Miss Brass City America preliminaries. This time, by my side was old friend - Johnny "O" Ozerhoski. He and I were in Guys and Dolls together back in 2002. (See September, 2002) We had an absolute BLAST!

Here we are before we start the show with special guest performer and former Glory Girl as well as a former 3rd Runner Up to Connecticut's Outstanding Teen and Miss Charter Oak 2006, Carolyn Fleischauer-West. She has a new country CD out entitled "Here I Am."

I'm harrassing Johnny here as he prepares to announce from backstage. Speaking of "Backstage," that is the name of Johnny's show on 97.3 WZBG every Saturday morning. It's dedicated to the arts of our area!

Here are all of the contestants before opening number.

Thanks so much to the Executive Director, Stacy Perrone-Petta (Miss Connecticut 1996) and the rest of the staff!

Here we are after the show with Miss Connecticut 2008 - Ashley Glenn. Always an amazing woman - she will be graduating with her PhD in May. So we were calling her Dr. Miss CT!

Since this was the next to the last pageant of the season, a lot of representatives were there to congratulate the new winners!

...Miss Brass City - Dana Brooks. They will be excellent representatives!

I also got to catch up with another former Glamour Girl (I know - two in two weeks!) Kris Waldron. She served on the judges panel for the night. And she will be performing in Guys And Dolls soon! Johnny O and I got a kick out of that!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

An amazing young woman, Cori Kopitar-Magnotta, invited myself and a bunch of titleholders to the grand opening of the Spring Hill Suites by Marriott in Windsor. It was also a benefit for H.O.P.E. - an organization dedicated to matching parents of newly diagnosed hemophiliac children with other parents. The event raised over $2,000 that day! Congratulations to Cori for making it a great event!Myself, Cori and Miss Teen America.

I had the pleasure of meeting one of the leading Doctors at Yale (she is a specialist with hemophilia) and one of the Hemophiliac Foundation members.Some of the Miss America preliminary titleholders.

One of the fun events that day was "find the special guest." Cori set it up so there were different queens located in areas of the hotel. If visitors went to these areas and got an autograph and came back to the front desk - the got a free night stay! Miss North Haven was in one of the guest suites! When it came time for the ribbon cutting ceremony, Cori gathered us around and the hotel manager spoke about her nephew - who was an inspiration for the event. One of the Selectmen was also on hand for the event.

This little lady took it upon herself to walk her neighborhood collecting money for H.O.P.E. What an inspiration!

Sunday, March 8, 2009

The 2009 All American Queens as featured in the Crown Clips ad in the upcoming Pageantry Magazine! Rhonda gifted all of us with the Crown Clips for our crowns! Thanks so much Rhonda! (That's me in the middle of the back row!)

Friday, March 6, 2009

Stacy and I went out to Foxwood's Casino for a night of triple duty! We got to catch up with Jackie and her daughter. Jackie was Stacy's Traveling Companion when she went to Miss America.We also got to see Sara perform with the Disco Revue. Sara, Stacy and I all performed together in The Glamour Girls.Then, Stacy and I celebrated my birthday with food at California Pizza Kitchen and a little casino fun!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

OH MY GOODNESS! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I was just voted Best Woman Fashion Wear for 2008 as well as Best Woman Evening Gown for 2008 in the annual TFTJ (Turn For The Judges) online poll! I am so excited! Thank you so much to everyone that voted for me! A very special thanks to Natalie Testa, owner of Ragtime Boutique in Watertown! Natalie, not only are you the official wardrobe sponsor of the Miss Connecticut America program, but you are quickly becoming THE wardrober for all of Connecticut! Thanks also to Sherri Kiazim, seamstress at Ragtime for always tweaking me into fabulosity! ;-)

I am also very pleased that the All American ladies did so well in all of the categories! Congratulations to everyone! See the online results pictured here!

Please, feel free to check back!

About Me

I've been so blessed to have such a wonderful life! It's because of pageants that I even realized my full performance potential. After I became involved in the Miss Virginia America preliminaries, I was encouraged by many to sing. (My first talent was comedy!) I then became part of the Miss VA U.S.O. Troupe. I moved from my home in VA to Connecticut and became a member of the Miss CT U.S.O. Troupe and subsequently, a Liberty Miss. I was blessed to tour 6 times to over 15 countries performing for our Troops. In 2000, another Liberty Miss and I formed The Glory Girls and we've performed for our Veterans ever since. I also act, dance and serve my community and have logged over 7,000 volunteer hours!
Also in 2000, I met my wonderful husband, David; we were married in 2003; and had our first child, Delilah, in 2005. I still enjoy pageants to this day and thank my lucky stars for the doors that they opened! I am constantly updating my websites below, so feel free to keep checking back. (It takes a loooong time to scan all those photos in!)
(P.S.: Everyone says that I'll probably be the oldest pageant queen/U.S.O. performer in the world! I think I'm okay with that!)